#hanamura yousuke

[wormgumz]

source deleted - 2008

[oenis-fridays]

finally, it is time to post compromised Yosuke pillowcase

@capt-spacebussy cmere show him off

[woodsie]

Shadow Yosuke’s Symbolism

I recently got a friend to play Persona 4 and we were talking about the symbolism of each of the character’s shadow selves, when we came to the realisation that neither of us really knew what Yosuke’s was meant to represent.

Chie’s represented her relationship with Yukiko. Yukiko’s her desire for freedom but lack of action in taking it. Yosuke has… a ninja frog…?

So I’ve done some digging.

Official Statements

The first thing I did was look at the official concept art sheet for shadow Yosuke. This primarily detailed that as the first of the shadows, they wanted it to be very obvious that their shadow’s and persona’s were the same thing.

This is done quite well and tells players subtly that they are the same without being obvious.

Jiraiya does look a lot like shadow Yosuke. The main body’s colour is inverted from black (evil) to white (good), the frogs eyes are added to Jiraiya’s head and the frog’s mouth becomes a chest piece, with the frog’s skin pattern carried over to the cuffs of Jiraiya’s clothes.

Jiraiya is easily the most similar persona to shadow. Important for early game. This idea is also helped by Tomoe looking very similar to shadow Chie, and allows the idea of persona’s and shadow’s being the same to be cemented into the players minds before they meet shadow Yukiko who is visually very different to Konohana-Sakuya.

Jiraiya In Folklore

My next step was to look for any symbolism between Yosuke and the story of Jiraiya himself. Granted, as a white woman™️ my knowledge of Japanese folklore is limited but I will summarise my findings and compare them to Yosuke’s story directly.

[Sorry for the weird formatting, I’m working around the 10 image post limit]

Both stories open with a character from an influential background and moving to a new area.

Jiraiya’s stance as a robber could be in reference to the fact that Junes is taking business away from local businesses and their families.

Saki could be taking the place of the woman in the house. Regardless of if she actually likes him, she is kind to him when others are not. This is something Yosuke admires greatly but it still doesn’t prevent Junes from ruining the Konishi’s business.

His shadow self is then a reference to the old man/magic frog. It recognises him from who he is, and although the shadow is hostile its intention is to teach Yosuke about the parts of himself he is trying to hide so he can reconcile with those feelings. This is what allows him to gain his persona, or in other words “teaching him magic”

Gaining his persona is what helps set Yosuke’s resolve and desire to avenge Saki and the others who have suffered due to the killer. He shows a distinct intelligence and is often the one to piece together vital information. Without him insisting they investigate Saki’s murder, the Investigation Team might not have ever existed. In that sense you could consider him a hero.

A good portion of his social link is devoted to him coming to terms with his situation, both around the murders and his place within Inaba. He frequently talks about feelings of loneliness and a desire to be valued, and he finds comfort in having his persona and being able to do something about what’s going on, it gives him some control over his life which he lost by coming to Inaba in the first place. Overtime though he does come to love Inaba as a whole and recognises that it’s the people around you that really make a place special. He’s not alone anymore and he’s far happier for it.

Other Potential Inspirations

In my attempts at seeing what others online think about potential symbolism for Yosuke’s shadow, I found that most people also did not understand what his shadow was meant to represent. However, I did come across a few older threads of people sharing possible ideas.

One of which was of a Chinese story about a frog in a well. The story related to narrow mindedness and limited perspective as the frog is unaware of life beyond the well and is amazed by it when told what it has to offer. This could be a potential reference to his dismissal of country life and him growing to love the town.

[virtualfutaba-cloud]

The investigation team!

[jmgangel]

The difference between Souyo and Shuake is so stark but also they are the same To Me.

[tharrb]

Persona is weird

These are different characters

These are the same characters

[roninkairi]

Images You Can Hear:

[happy-yetstrange-collector]

Concept of Yousuke Hanamura

[raeseddon]

Haven't been able to stop thinking about the conversation @gurofriend and I had about Yousuke's character arc and how it relates to Saki, for a number of reasons: the biggest being that one of the things we hear her say when Yu and Yousuke enter her dungeon is "I wish it would all just disappear." 99% of the time, when a character says that in a piece of Japanese media, it's meant as a form of suicidal ideation. Given the game before this had a main character who was that level of suicidal in the beginning and how important a theme apathy, and the rejection of apathy is as whole in the Persona series, there a lot of meaning behind having Saki say this, whether she would or wouldn't have gone through with it. I'm even willing to put out there that her Shadow probably was her subconscious desire to self-harm, given form.

The importance of this is to immediately tell players that this is a different game than the last: the the core message of it will be very different, since if this were Persona 3, Saki might have made contact with/been contacted by The Velvet Room, for that struggle in her alone. The reason her murder hangs over Yousuke specifically for the rest of the game is because for as lonely and isolated as he felt, he never once considered wanting to "make it all disappear" and the fact that Saki did, apparently have that thought often enough for it to be one of the first things they hear, effects Yousuke in the deepest part of himself.

Throughout his social link, he has these asides where he talks directly to Saki, telling her that you don't need to be special to be special to someone: that just living and being yourself is enough to mean something to another person-- but you have to be able to be yourself, which is where both he and Saki struggled. Eventually, Yousuke's able to be comfortable with himself, accept his feelings towards Yu, and live "with a smile." To a Western audience, his constant bringing her up and "talking to her" might come off as him being hung up on her, but speaking to her spirit is his way of finding closure and moving on. In that way, it is a traditional Persona game, but it comes at it from a different angle than previous entries in the series-- by ending the life of someone who had the potential to be a main character in the previous game right off the bat.

This also fits with Yu being one of the few Persona protagonists not meant to be a blank slate player surrogate-- the writers had a clear personality in mind for him given the dialogue choices, and a lot of that has to do with this being a different game. Part of the point of the P3 protagonist in particular being such a blank slate is his apathy when you start playing. He's genuinely just alive because ending his life would mean doing something, and his apathy is such that he can't even be bothered to do that. Yu has no such hang ups-- he's just a normal kid being thrown into insane circumstances. From the choices given, it's the players choice to make him open/out going or reticent about showing what he thinks/feels-- but those are really your only options. Ironically, even with only two varieties of choices, it still makes him more interesting/nuanced than the P3 male protagonist. It also makes him better prepared to face up to the first real villain of the game, Adachi-- someone who had pretty much the same choices Yu had in life but chose to opt out of everything instead.

In a lot of ways, (and the anime shows this with "Chad" Yu especially) Yu is a bit of...weird guy, he comes off as this combination of being really forward about how he feels while at the same time...selectively unaware of how that forwardness is going to come off to the people around him [insert autism disk-horse here...] he sees the world for what it is and generally takes people at face value and in good faith-- something that comes back to bite him with Adachi-- but that's exactly why Yu couldn't be the type of player surrogate the P3 protagonist was. It would have been the exact same narrative arc as P3 if they allowed Yu to be that type of player surrogate. P4 is still about how apathy is a cop out to actually living, but the burden of learning that isn't on the player character, it's on the antagonist.

[megaderping]

The sound of an obnoxiously catchy jingle jolted Akechi from his sleep. Grumbling, he sat up, rubbed his eyes, and scowled at Yu, who watched the TV from the couch with his chin resting in his hands. Some strange man in a suit appeared on the screen, with a broad nose and an orange, striped tie. He spoke with an undeniable charisma you'd expect from a telemarketer, and Akechi could've sworn he'd seen that man's face before…

"This is Tanaka's Amazing Commodities, the mail order television program, being broadcasted live to you! We guarantee your purchase will meet your satisfaction for a fair market price! Now, let's introduce the products that will be on sale for the next three days!"

Then came more of that jingle… which Yu sang along to. "Granter of your desires!"

Akechi stared flatly at Yu. "Infomercials? Really?" Tanaka droned on and on about Adios Shoes in the background, and Yu simply shrugged and bobbed along to the jingle.

"You never know. Could come in handy in the TV world."

"Or you could get suckered into buying low-budget garbage."

Tanaka's solicitation cut through the conversation. "...But wait, there's more! I'll add two Slimming Foods to the Adios Shoes! All this for only 5,980 yen! We've got another fantastic product on sale today! One Medical Kit! It's very helpful in emergencies! What can I do to sweeten this pot for you? Ooh, I know! For this one, I'll add four Medicines to your Medical Kit for 2,980 yen!"

Akechi scoffed. The Medical Kits could be useful, he supposed, and… damn it. Yu was already dialing up the number. "Well, it is your money. I take it you're going for the shoes?"

"Yep. Some new kicks might help Chie kick ass in the next dungeon."

Rolling his eyes, Akechi grabbed a calculator off his desk. He punched in the individual costs of the Medicines and Medical Kits, and… hm. It was cheaper than buying them individually. So, once Yu finished his call, Akechi dialed up the number and placed the order for a Medical Kit package. Once that was out of the way, he flipped his phone shut.

"Well then. Have you any big plans for the day?"

"Yep, but they're top secret." Yu sauntered over to the dresser, digging out a black jacket, matching black jeans, and an undershirt.

Akechi followed suit, fetching his green sweater vest, white shirt, black slacks, and almond blazer for a sophisticated Sunday fit. "And just when we've come so far…" He smirked all the same. "Then again, another mystery is tempting to pursue."

Previous Chapter | Full Chapter | Read from the Beginning

-- Akechi's birthday rapidly approaches... but also many shenanigans afoot! This chapter had a lot more in it than I remembered. Hope you enjoy!

[syntheticdaemon]

Arcana Swap Project from last year.

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

BEST DAD BATTLE: APPLE BRACKET

ROUND 1 GROUP 1 PART 1

Dad councils words: hello everynyan!

[persona4-anime]

[virtualfutaba-cloud]

[nicosquared]

Artist:  スオウ

[alaspell]

Persona 4 !